


Sleeping Beauty and the Bumblebee

by Livvy Moore (Tauria)



Category: Original Work
Genre: F/F, IKEA Furniture, Meet-Cute, Modern Setting, based off of a tumblr prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-21
Updated: 2018-01-21
Packaged: 2019-03-07 18:32:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,732
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13440744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tauria/pseuds/Livvy%20Moore
Summary: Abby rubbed the bridge of her nose. It was almost closing time, and—once again—the gorgeous blonde was sleeping in one of the sample beds they had set up. Her hair was splayed across the pillow almost artfully. It made her seem a modern day sleeping beauty; cursed to spend eternity at rest in an Ikea furniture store.





	Sleeping Beauty and the Bumblebee

Abby rubbed the bridge of her nose. It was almost closing time, and—once again—the gorgeous blonde was sleeping in one of the display beds they had set up. Her hair was splayed across the pillow almost artfully. It made her seem a modern day sleeping beauty; cursed to spend eternity at rest in an Ikea furniture store.

She snorted at herself. God, that's what working from opening until close got you. She really needed to cut back on her hours. She smirked. Flint had been complaining about his workload recently—she could give him some of her shifts.

She reached down and shoved at the woman's shoulder. "Alright, sunshine. Time to get up." Honestly, Abby was starting to worry about the woman at this point. Was she homeless? Did Abby need to phone the local shelter, get her a place to stay?

The woman scrunched her nose; the freckle at the corner of her right eye disappearing into folds of skin as she squinted awake. "Time izzit?" she slurred, patting at the bed, as if looking for something.

"8:45." Abby rolled her shoulders. "Fifteen minutes until I get to go home."

Sleeping Beauty squinted at her. "Oh. Hey. It's the bumblebee!" She glanced around, noting her surroundings, and had the decency to blush a bit; a pale pink tinge to her skin. "Er. Sorry. Again."

Abby rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "Do I need to call a shelter for you?" she asked, blunt. "There's a really nice one not too far from here. Friend of mine knows the people who own it. I can—"

Beauty lifted her hands. "No, no. I don't— I'm not homeless." She shook her head; curls swaying. She tucked one behind her ear. "I, uh. I'm in college. I've got a joint apartment with three other people, and it gets… noisy. Crowded. Different schedules, different personalities, lots of homework."

Abby rubbed the bridge of her nose again. "So you come and catch naps at Ikea."

"…yeah. The library too, if I'm being honest. And other friend's couches. And one memorable time, in one of my professor's office when I was waiting him to finish up with a meeting."

Abby couldn't help but grin, a bit. "Personally, I'd recommend getting a pair of noise cancelling headphones. And a sleep mask." She leaned forward, as if about to share a secret. "Works for me."

"You enrolled too?"

Abby tilted her hand side-to-side. "Sort of. I'm doing online classes. Too busy for much else." She shrugged. "Working on a communications major. I'm rooming with my sisters. It's a work-in-progress not to kill each other. Between the sleep mask and noise-cancelling headphones, sleeping's not too bad."

"I might invest in those, then," the girl said, before standing up. "I should get out of your hair."

Abby was not an impulsive person. Her mother walked out of her life when she was six. Her father remarried when she was eight. He traveled a lot in her youth, and met her stepmother in his job. She was constantly relocating, and as a result, often kept to herself.

She had two half-sisters she adored. And, after her mother had walked back into her life in her late teens, two more half-sisters and a half-brother.

As a result, Abby was used to being responsible. Dependable. She was a constant, even if others were not. And as such, she was not prone to impulsive decisions.

But that didn't mean she wasn't capable of them.

She grabbed Beauty's bicep—and it took quite a bit of self restraint not to squeeze. Muscles. Yum.

"Wait," she said. "I can't reasonably let you out on the road like this—not without making sure you're awake. What do you say we grab a coffee, once I've closed up? Maybe I could get the name of the woman who falls asleep on my displays...?"

Beauty smirked, and cocked her hip. "Do you make a habit of asking out people who fall asleep on IKEA display beds?"

"No, but I think I might like to." Abby made a show of scanning her over. "Or, one, anyway."

"That's rather forward of you."

"I'm a rather forward person."

"I think I might like that."

Abby smirked. "Good." She extended a hand. "Abigail Finch. Call me Abby."

The girl took it. "Kira Starling. It's a pleasure to meet you. Should I, uh, wait outside then?"

Abby shrugged. "Sure. Won't take me long to close up."

* * *

There weren't a lot of coffee shops open this late at night, so Abby and Kira resorted to a diner down the street. Waffles and black coffee for Kira, and French Toast and utterly sugared and creamed coffee for Abby.

Kira wrinkled her nose as Abby dumped the sugar in. "You are ruining it."

"I don't know how you stand it black," Abby said, mirroring Kira's expression. "Way too bitter for me, thanks. I like a bit of sweetness in my life."

Kira shook her head. "And here I was, thinking we could get along—have a nice first date. And then you go and do that." She clicked her tongue, a twinkle in her eye and a twitch at the corner of her mouth.

"Is this a date?" Abby returned, stirring the sugar into her coffee.

"I mean, I assumed," Kira said. "But you're the one who asked. So is it?"

Abby shrugged. "It's what I wanted."

"Then it is."

Abby grinned. "Good."

"So. Tell me about yourself. You're studying Communications? Why?"

"I'm also minoring in sociology. The idea is to go into Human Resources department in some company or other and make sure people are treated fairly. Either that, or journalism. I do love to investigate corrupt people in power." Abby grinned, a bit. "Run a semi-successful feminist blog, actually."

Kira grinned. "I think I can forgive your corruption of the coffee, then."

"What about you? What are you studying?"

"Double major. Archaeology and Linguistics. Minoring in anthropology. History fascinates me. Old cultures, old laws, old stuff. I want to study all of it—exhume old secrets, maybe answer a few questions I've got."

Abby whistled. "Impressive. No wonder you're falling asleep at IKEA. A double major? How the hell?"

Kira shrugged. "It's tough. Kind of bites into the social life... but... I like learning. I like what I'm studying. I'm pretty fucking smart. Certified genius, actually."

"And very modest."

Kira shrugged again. "Nah. I just tell it like it is. No point in false modesty, yeah? I'm smart. Damn smart. Gotta full ride and everything."

"What kind of genius are you?"

"Languages come easy to me. I learn 'em quick. It just... makes sense. I'm no slouch with math, either. A lot of understanding science is Latin terms, and that's easy enough for me. Language means those stuffy books they want you to read for English come easy to me. But enough about that. I might not believe in false modesty but that doesn't mean I want to hog the conversation, no matter how great I am. And yeah—that one was arrogance. So, back to you."

"What about me?"

"I dunno. What's your favorite color?"

"Red. You?"

"Aqua. You gotta favorite book?"

"It fluctuates. Current favorite is the Throne of Glass series. Queen of Shadows, specifically. You?"

"The Last Unicorn, Beagle. Beautiful book. Favorite movie?"

"I don't have one. What about you?"

"The new Wonder Woman. Favorite ice cream?"

"Peppermint."

"Mine's chocolate. Favorite thing to read?"

"Poetry or fantasy."

"Science fiction or fantasy. Favorite poem?"

"A Mouthful of Forevers, or Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening. Still I Rise is a masterpiece as well. You wouldn't happen to have one?"

"Never read much poetry. Only thing I can think of is The Raven, and while it was nice, I wouldn't call it a favorite."

Kira kept the questions coming, the conversation flowing long after their meals had finished and they'd abandoned coffee in favor of water. Kira was animated as she spoke, often gesturing with her hands—which led to an incident where she splashed water in her lap as she held her cup.

By the time they left, three hours had passed. 1AM had crept up on them, the streets mostly empty as most people wandered their way to bed or found their way to various clubs and bars. They walked, side-by-side, back to the IKEA parking lot, side by side as their breath created mist in the air.

"I had fun," Abby said, once they reached Kira's car—a beat up blue pickup truck. "We should do this again sometime."

"Preferably without me falling asleep in IKEA beforehand," Kira said with a laugh. "Gimme your phone. I'll give you my number."

Abby did so, despite her normal hesitation with letting people touch her phone. Kira passed hers in return, and Abby clicked it open.

Her home screen was a charming photo of her making an absolutely horrendous face while a male beside her—presumably the best friend she'd mentioned, Michael Fox—made his own terrible face. Abby found herself smiling.

She slipped off her glove and clicked open contacts. She typed in her number and, with a smile, keyed her name in as "Bumblebee."

"One last thing. Get me to your camera, and I'll get you to mine. We need selfies."

Abby laughed. "Together, or separate?"

Kira considered. "Together."

Together, they took two photos. On Abby's phone, smiles—though Abby was pretty sure Kira was giving her the bunny ears. Kira insisted on silly faces for hers, though, and while Abby felt utterly ridiculous, she complied.

Once they'd changed their contact photos, they exchanged phones for good. Kira shoved her phone in her pocket. "See you later, alligator."

She leaned in and pressed a kiss on Abby's cheek before climbing into her pickup truck, leaving Abby pressing a hand and to her cheek in shock—but also pleasure.

Kira sent her a two fingered salute and a wink before backing up and driving away, leaving Abby to make her way back to her own car—a small black four door thing. Key in ignition, she let the heater do its work before driving away, checking her contacts as she waited.

Kira had, in fact, been giving her bunny ears during the picture (while winking). Abby rolled her eyes. And then she looked at the name.

"Sleeping Beauty."

Abby laughed.

**Author's Note:**

> Based off a prompt floating around Tumblr—where your OTP meets because one keeps falling asleep on IKEA beds and the other works there, and mistakes them for being homeless. I decided to make an original fic about it. (I need to find the original post and give credit....)
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> This feels like it has the potential to be longer, so I may come back and expand it some day. For now, though, it's complete.
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> I hope you enjoyed!
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> Find me on Tumblr as [ladycravenheart](https://ladycravenheart.tumblr.com/) or [livvywrites](livvywrites.tumblr.com/). And check this story out on [FictionPress](https://www.fictionpress.com/s/3312679/1/Sleeping-Beauty-and-the-Bumblebee), if you like!


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